Iraq lauds UAE's efforts to soften effects of blockade

Iraqi Minister of Trade Mohammed Mahdy Saleh stated that the UAE suggested a shipping line with Iraq to the Sanctions Committee, which approved the proposal after a judicial dispute between the UAE and the committee.

Saleh said that UAE officials are taking initiatives which aim to soften the consequences of the sanctions whether through offering aid to Iraq, increasing the volume of food shipments to Iraq, or direct calls for lifting the embargo, which is has been requested by its President Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

In the Port of Om Kasr in the south of Iraq, Iraqi Minister of Transportation Ahmed Mortada Ahmed supervised preparations to facilitate the reception of the first ship from the UAE.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Minister of Oil Amer Rashid said that Iraq will resume oil exports next week after the UN agreed on a food distribution plan. Iraq had stopped its oil exports, which had been part of the oil-for-food agreement reached with the UN, on December 5.